Cadbury takeover 'good for UK jobs'

Cadbury workers had held protests outside the company's headquarters in Birmingham

The chairman of Kraft has said the purchase of Cadbury would be good for UK manufacturing jobs.

Speaking following a meeting with Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, Irene Rosenfeld explained: "As we have said from the outset, our interest is in growing Cadbury and investing in its great brands and people. That will be good for the company, good for the UK and good for British manufacturing jobs."

The company won its five-month battle for control of Cadbury after shareholders backed its takeover offer, but Rosenfeld could not give any cast-iron guarantees regarding jobs.

She added: "We aim to restore Cadbury to its place as the world's biggest and best confectionery business. Lord Mandelson was naturally interested in the employment prospects of Cadbury's workers.

"I made clear to him our belief that the combination of Kraft Foods and Cadbury will be better for UK manufacturing than Cadbury's standalone prospects."

Kraft's cash-and-shares deal, recommended by the Cadbury board two weeks ago, values the UK firm at around £11.4 billion.

Investors holding 71.7% of Cadbury's shares have backed the takeover. The offer will remain open for shareholders who have yet to accept until further notice.

When the US giant passes the 75% threshold it will take the company off the stock market, and when it reaches 90% support it can automatically buy up the remaining shares.

The result came as hundreds of Cadbury workers staged a noisy protest in Westminster to call for guarantees for their jobs and conditions.

They pressed for a new law to be introduced to prevent any more British "icons" being bought up by a foreign firm.